Cubs Rumors: Andrew Miller close to joining St. Louis Cardinals

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Ahead of the holidays, the Hot Stove is heating up. The Cubs rumors are fairly quiet, but several other teams made big moves that could impact Chicago.

It’s been a frustrating offseason for the Chicago Cubs. Long-expected to be an exciting winter headlined by potential pursuits of Bryce Harper or Manny Machado, fans instead have been proverbially punched in the face by story after story shutting down even the quietest Cubs rumors.

First, the debacle of Joe Maddon and his contract status heading into 2019 took center stage. After a deafening silence, the team opted not to extend him as he heads into the final season of his initial five-year deal. Then, inherent payroll implications took center stage – a story that continues to this day.

As the Cubs stand pat with a roster they insist has the talent to make a deep October run, other teams around the league have made notable improvements that could make things more difficult for Maddon and his team.

Earlier this offseason, the division rival St. Louis Cardinals made a big splash, adding Paul Goldschmidt in a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Milwaukee Brewers are still the favorites in the division and the rest of the Central isn’t going to serve as a punching back much longer.

Here’s the latest roundup of deals that directly impact the Cubs – a team that remains quiet heading into the final week of December.

(Photo by Brian Davidson/Getty Images) /

Cubs Rumors: Cardinals bring in a coveted left-handed reliever

The Chicago Cubs’ primary left-handed reliever last season, Justin Wilson, is still searching for a new home in free agency. With Mike Montgomery and Randy Rosario left as the southpaws in the pen, it seems inevitable Theo Epstein will add left-handed relief depth in some form.

According to Jeff Passan (Twitter), though, Andrew Miller will not be one of those additions. The veteran left-hander is reportedly close to a multi-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals, helping shore up a relief corps that put up the fourth-worst ERA (4.38) in the National League in 2018.

Now, whether or not Miller will perform as the shutdown lefty we saw for much of his time in New York and Cleveland remains to be seen. He wasn’t the same guy last year, pitching to an inflated 4.24 ERA, 3.51 FIP and 8.2 H/9. But St. Louis is banking that he can recapture some of his dominance – and they may be right to do so.

If he’s healthy, Andrew Miller is one of the best relievers in baseball. From 2013 to 2016, the lefty put up a 1.93 earned run average, a 217 ERA+, 1.95 FIP and 0.856 WHIP across 240 appearances.

This move puts the rest of the National League Central on notice. The Cardinals are ready to put their three-year playoff drought to rest in 2018 – and Miller will be a big part of accomplishing that mission.

Cubs Rumors: Soria off the board, joining the Athletics

Recently, we talked about how a guy like veteran right-hander Joakim Soria could make sense for the Cubs. But that doesn’t matter now, because according to Jon Heyman, Soria and the Oakland Athletics have agreed to terms on a two-year, $15 million deal.

Soria split 2018 between the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers, pitching to a 3.12 clip in 66 appearances. Heading into his age-35 campaign, he definitely comes with some risk, but adding a veteran presence to the Cubs’ pen would have been a nice move – especially at this price range.

Instead, he’ll join the A’s, a team looking to chase down the Houston Astros in the AL West. With the Angels likely to be mediocre once more and the Rangers and Seattle rebuilding, it’s a two-horse race in 2019.

Soria, who carries a 3.33 ERA and 3.24 FIP since 2015, joins a pen headlined by All-Star closer Blake Treinen – giving Oakland manager Bob Melvin even more depth heading into next season. Soria isn’t the type of guy who completely changes the makeup of a bullpen, but he’s one of those guys who takes the ball and gets the job done in those middle innings, something Chicago could definitely use some help with.

Cubs Rumors: Murphy joins Rockies on a two-year pact

When the Cubs went out and acquired Daniel Murphy for the stretch run, we knew what it was – a rental. Over the final month or so with Chicago, the veteran slashed .297/.329/.471 for a slightly above-average 108 OPS+.

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Now, he’s headed out west to join the Colorado Rockies on a two-year, $24 million deal with an option for 2021. What’s most intriguing, though, is that he’ll reportedly play first base for his new team. A noted subpar defender, it’ll be interesting to see how he transitions to a new position.

There’s no doubting what Murphy can do with the stick. Upon arriving in Chicago, he helped spark a stagnant Cubs offense as the team ran off an impressive winning streak. But, ultimately, it wasn’t enough to help Chicago win a third-straight division title as the team fell flat over the final month as the Brewers surged past them to win the NL Central crown.

As for the Cubs, as things currently stand, they’ll rely on some combination of Javier Baez, Ben Zobrist, recently-acquired Daniel Descalso and Addison Russell (although his future is very uncertain right now) to handle the middle infield duties in 2019.

Next. Is the NL Central the best division in the league?. dark

So, at least for now, the story remains the same. The rest of the National League seems to be getting better while the Cubs take a wait-and-see approach. There’s a lot of offseason left and, despite the talent on this roster, there are holes that need addressed if this team wants a deep October run next year.

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